Funding proposals for Niantic park, restrooms approved

East Lyme — Funding proposals for the development of a park at the former Mobil gas station site on Main Street and the installation of infrastructure for restrooms at Cini Park were approved at a town meeting Wednesday, First Selectman Mark Nickerson confirmed.

The town is planning to develop the park at 224 Main St. by using money from a state grant remaining after a downtown Niantic streetscape project and funds the town has leftover after it purchased the property in 2016 at a lower price than the amount approved at a 2010 referendum, Nickerson has said. Niantic Main Street also plans to sell commemorative bricks.

Specifically, the plan is to reallocate $70,227.67 remaining from the state Small Town Economic Assistance grant and appropriate $139,522 remaining from the amount approved for the site at a 2010 referendum toward the development of the park.

The town further is planning to install a portable restroom trailer with decking and outdoor showers at Cini Park.

The proposal approved Wednesday is to use a $500,000 state Small Town Economic Assistance Program grant toward water and sewer pipes and infrastructure for the restroom facility. The town previously received approval to use $70,000 of town funds for the portable restroom trailer.

The grant also will help pay for the development of the park at the former Mobil gas station, if needed.

Nickerson said town officials are pretty confident they will have enough funds from the grant to pay for the installation of a dinghy dock at Cini Park in the vicinity of the roundabout. The town is trying to incorporate the addition of a structure that can help stabilize kayaks and canoes as people launch them into the water, an item that can be helpful for people with disabilities.

The Zoning Board of Appeals is scheduled to meet at 6 p.m. Jan. 29 at Town Hall to hold a public hearing and consider a variance for the Cini Park restroom project and the Main Street park.

The plans for the restrooms and the park will go to a public hearing at the Zoning Commission's meeting at 7:30 p.m. Feb. 1 at Town Hall. The commission will hold a public hearing on the plans for the dock at its meeting at 7:30 p.m. March 1 at Town Hall.